Carlton Lassiter & Karen Vick
by PersnicketySquared
Summary: "Undercover passion on the run". Carlton and Karen are forced to go undercover to a clinic as a married couple with issues. Karen is suffering real problems with her marriage and Lassie attempts to comfort her.


As per usual the crew were gathered in the Chief's office. That included, of course, Chief Vick, Lassie, Shawn, Gus and Jules. Carlton was excited to hear what the Chief had for him this time. That was until he heard the word "clinic".

"Oh God! Not a clinic. I don't want to hang around with a bunch of mentals" Lassie protested.

"Not mentals. Lassiter. They just have troubles like all the rest of us" Vick explained.

"You're telling me they've got troubles. One of them has just been murdered"

"Yes and that's why we need someone to go in there undercover. But I don't want them going in there alone. That's why two of you are going to have to go in undercover as a couple with marriage problems" Vick laid out the plan.

"I bagsy myself and Jules" Shawn stepped himself up for any chance to be with Jules.

Gus interrupted. "You two? I'm not sure that's gonna work. You don't really look like a couple who have been married for fifteen years and now all of a sudden it's breaking down"

"Well you don't know. Me and Jules could have been rockin' this boat for a while. We could be childhood sweethearts" Shawn argued.

"I don't think so" Gus said folding his arms.

"What?" said Shawn starting a fight with Gus.

"Actually he's got a point" Lassie and Vick both said at the same time.

Suddenly Shawn, Gus and Jules all turned and looked at Lassie and Vick.

"What about you two?" suggested Jules.

"Us?" Lassie looked stunned.

"You've got to be kidding me" Vick said shaking her head.

"You're the only people who look believable" Jules insisted.

"Believable? …I really can't. This is not a good time for me" Vick was going through a hard time with her own marriage and she really didn't need this at the moment.

"Nope. I'm sorry. You'll have to find somebody else" Lassie refused.

By that afternoon Lassie and Vick were pulling up at the clinic. Lassie got out of the car first and went round the other side to open Vick's door for her. Vick gave him a funny look and Lassie thought he had forgotten something so he ran round to the boot to get Vick's case for her.

"We're supposed to have issues" Vick called back to him.

Lassie immediately dropped her case on the floor. Everything fell out and Lassie just walked off. As he walked up the reception, with Vick struggling along behind him trying to hold her case closed as she couldn't be bothered to re-fasten it, he was greeted by a porter.

"You must be Basil Frostytips and you must be Mrs Frostytips" the porter said giving them name-badges.

"Did you really think those were our real names? The person who gave you those names is a deranged lunatic!" Lassie shouted as he tore off his name name-badge.

"Carlton! Don't talk that way about our son!" Vick nudged Lassie with her elbow to get him to behave. Then she turned to the porter "That's our 4 year old. He's a little mischievous" the porter nodded and smiled.

"Our names are Mr and Mrs Lassiter" Lassie calmed down a little and the porter gave them the keys to their room. Then Lassie and Vick got in the elevator to go up to their room. When the doors closed and they couldn't be heard Lassie went off on one.

"Spencer didn't get us separate rooms!"

"Well Lassiter, it would look a little odd for a married couple to be sleeping in separate rooms don't you think?"

"Me and my wife did for the last 6 months of our marriage"

Lassie was expecting a snide comment back but Vick just bowed her head and looked upset.

"Chief?" Lassie looked concerned and put his hand on her shoulder. This made Vick jump and she quickly moved her shoulder away.

"Huh?" she said snapping out of it. "Look if it's two beds pushed together then we'll pull them apart and if it's just one, well then you can sleep in the bath"

"Oh thanks" said Lassie sarcastically.

Later on Lassie and Vick had their first therapy session. Lassie held the door open for Vick as they walked into the room.

"Issues. Remember?" Vick said under her breath.

"Carlton. Karen. Come in" said the therapist, ushering them to the couch. They sit down on opposite sides of the couch, as far away from each other as possible.

"You can sit closer to each other if you'd like. You won't bite. I promise. If you do I'm afraid our insurance won't cover that" the therapist laughed and Lassie and Vick pretended to laugh along with him as they hesitantly moved closer to each other. "That's good" nodded the therapist. "So where do we think it all went wrong?" he asked. They both remained silent not knowing what to say.

"Well I guess it kind of started when she got the job on the force" Lassie commented and Vick gave him a dirty look.

"That's right. You work together don't you? And Karen you're his boss"

"That's right. I AM" Vick reminded Lassie of this.

"Do you resent this Carlton?"

"No. Of course not" Lassie insisted. "I just think that sometimes she doesn't appreciate my seniority and that I do actually know what I'm doing"

"I know you do. I respect that" Vick looked at Lassie worried about whether he really thought this.

"And what about what he does?" the therapist asked Vick.

"Well he's just an idiot. He doesn't think before he acts. He spends too much time trying to compete with Sh…our son Shawn for attention" Vick answered.

"Do you find it difficult trying to juggle your time?" the therapist asked her.

"Yes I do and I don't think Carlton really appreciates that" Vick turned to Lassie and he turned his head to her and puts his arm round the back of the chair so that he almost had his arm around her and then he said "I do. I do. I'm sorry if I don't seem like I do sometimes".

"Do you realise what you just said there Carlton? You said you're sorry. Karen. Is there anything you'd like to say back to Carlton?" the therapist encouraged her.

"…I'm…sorry" Vick said through her teeth.

"That's good. That's very good. You've made a lot of progress in just this first session. Now if you want to show each other some affection that would be good"

"Oh no thanks" Lassie quickly tried to avoid doing that.

"We're ok. I assure you" Vick felt the same.

"No. No. No. Come on" the therapist badgered them.

"Like what?" Lassie asked.

"Just give her a little kiss" the therapist tried to persuade them.

"No. He really doesn't have to" Vick wagged her finger in protest.

"Just kiss her!" the therapist shouted.

"ALRIGHT! Alright!" Lassie shouted as her leaned over and gave Vick a kiss on her forehead. Vick froze for a second, while a million thoughts rushed through her mind and then she snapped out of it. The same thing happened to Lassie as he pulled away from Vick he felt himself longing to be near her again. The warmth she exuberated and how he had missed being able to be near someone. But he told himself that she was married and tried to shake off any thoughts he might be having and put it down to being caught in the moment.

"There we go" she faked a smile.

That evening Lassie and Vick got ready for bed, well Vick got ready for bed, Lassie got ready to sleep on the floor. The radio played and they were both deadly silent. They hadn't spoke to each other since the therapy session. Lassie decided to break the ice.

"You did good in there"

"Thank you Carlton. I was talking from experience" Vick said confused.

"I'm not really that bad am I?" Lassie looked offended.

"No. Not you" Vick smiled.

"Oh. You and your husband. Do you have some…um…issues?" Lassie tried to ask as delicately as he could.

"Lassiter. I really don't want to talk about this with you" Vick tried to change the subject.

"No I was just thinking maybe I could help. I went through all this with my wife" Lassie sat on the bed next to Vick and tapped the bed next to him to get her to sit down.

"Lassiter" Vick said refusing to sit down.

"Let's talk"

"Lassiter!"

"Come on. Just open up to me" Lassie said grabbing Vick's arms and attempting to pull her down to a seat.

"Carlton! Just drop it, ok? I'm fine honestly" Vick shouted, pulling away.

"Fine! I was just trying to help" Lassie huffed as he got up and walked towards the bathroom.

Vick began to feel guilty "…Carlton. The bath must be freezing. Why don't you sleep in here on the floor?"

"No. I'll be ok. But thanks" Lassie smiled and walked back into the bathroom.

"Carlton!"

"Yes?" Lassie asked poking his head back round the doorway.

"Just take the offer, ok?"

"Ok" Lassie nodded, bringing his stuff back into the room.

Lassie snuggled down into his duvet like a little child and curled up into the foetal position, Vick just lay flat with her duvet neatly spread and tucked in at the corners.

"Carlton"

"What now?"

"The radio is still on"

"Oh"

"Never mind I'll go" sighed Vick getting up out of bed.

But Lassie was already doing the same "No. No. I'll do it"

Lassie and Vick reached the radio at exactly the same time and stood directly in front of each other, only inches away. The song changed on the radio to 'Bump 'n' Grind' by .

"My mind's telling me no…But my body. My body's telling me yes" the song sang.

They both reach out their hands towards the radio at the same time and their hands touch. They both held their hands their for a moment, unable to move. Then they moved their heads in closer to each other until their lips were nearly touching. Suddenly they realised what they were doing and moved away from each other. Lassie coughed and Vick quickly said "Goodnight Detective" and they both crawled back into their respective sleeping areas. But they both just lay their with their eyes open, trying to figure out what just happened.


End file.
